A shortage of fresh water and severe saline intrusion have seriously affected the lives of tens of thousands of people in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh.

According to the provincial Clean Water and Environmental Sanitation Center, nearly 10,000 households have suffered from lack of fresh water, especially in Chau Thanh and Cang Long districts.

Nearly 10,000 households in Tra Vinh province are seriously lacking clean water due to saline intrusion. (Photo for illustration)

Since mid-February, more than 5,220 households living in 10 communes of Chau Thanh district have been forced to use surface water from canals, ditches or drilled wells for everyday living.

In the dry season, the water is salted while the underground water is contaminated with alum, causing a serious shortage of fresh water, local agriculture and rural development office said.

To cope, many households have been storing rainwater.

The authorities in Chau Thanh district said the local fresh water supply system only met 50 percent of demand and the rest were forced to drill wells.

Bui Van Mung, Director of the provincial Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Centre, said some water supply stations built were old and degraded and their initial designed capacity did not meet the needs due to population growth.

About 6 percent of rural households cannot reach fresh water because fresh supply water system cannot build in some remote areas, he said.

Proposals have been put to the province to build a water reservoir at four water supply stations using surface water to ensure sufficient fresh water supply in six months of dry season.

It also suggested building more pipeline systems in areas affected by saline intrusion and provide plastic tanks for about 2,000 poor households to store clean water.